


From Seed To Flower

by Hannahmayski



Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Inuzuka Kiba, Character Development, Gen, Self-Esteem Issues, and so many more characters, but ill add more as i post more chapters, help him, hokage kiba, im gonna yell about the strong women in kiba's life, kiba is condensed ball of stress rage and spite, team 8 are my life, the power of friendship babey, there's so so much more to come, until i dIE
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 16:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18642124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hannahmayski/pseuds/Hannahmayski
Summary: Kiba knows that he's weak. He knows that he's useless. His pitiful loss against Sakon and Ukon proved that. But he'll get stronger. Everyone has their rock-bottom, and perhaps this is his.One day, Kiba will become Hokage andno onecan stop him.





	From Seed To Flower

Kiba wakes with fire in his lungs, rust in his throat and burning guilt in his stomach before he’s even opened his eyes.

The lights are too bright, and the bedsheets are too itchy. Kiba’s head is beating in time to his pulse and he doesn’t know where he is.

The heads in Kiba’s vision blur and distort and it doesn’t help the fact that Kiba can’t _breathe_ or that Akamaru could be _dead._

There are hands on his face and voices calling at him, but he can’t focus. Everything feels too heavy, his limbs weighted down with an invisible force.

The voice gets louder, and somewhere in the back of Kiba’s mind he knows that voice. He blinks harder and makes out wild hair and Inuzuka tattoos. His mother.

There must be a particular look on his face because Tsume breaks into the largest grin he’s ever seen, and she rubs her thumbs along his cheekbones.

Kiba opens his mouth but his tongue is uncoordinated and lumpy, his mouth too dry to formulate the words he wants to say.

Tsume’s hands leave his face and then there are different hands levering him up and someone props up the bed, so he can see.

His throat burns _,_ and he wants to talk, he _needs_ to talk because Akamaru was dying and it was Kiba’s fault. Akamaru was dying and Kiba _failed_ him.

Kurenai is there, Kiba realises, as she carefully presses a cup of water to his lips.

It flows down like a blessing. The fire in his throat lessens and he can move his tongue with relative ease even if the heaviness doesn’t entirely disappear.

The Sasuke retrieval mission was a disaster from the beginning and there was no way he could have won against the twins.

They were just on an entirely other level than Kiba. They weren’t _Genin_ like him. They were something else. Something else entirely. Kiba wasn’t strong enough. He wasn’t anywhere near their level. Kiba was weak compared to them, and weak compared to Kankuro.

Weak enough that he put Akamaru’s life on the line and that is not something Kiba can accept.

Kiba turns his head to the side and ignores how his vision swims, and for a moment, the whole room distorts.

Akamaru is asleep on a little pillow, legs bandaged, and Hana is there, running patient hands through his fur.

Tsume is in his gaze again, hand running through his hair avoiding bandages with a gentleness that isn’t something he usually associates with his mother.

“He’s fine,” she’s saying. “You did good, pup. You’re fine.”

It’s not fine, really. He got his ass kicked. Got all his ego beaten out of him and nearly let Akamaru _die._

There are some Inuzuka who have lost their ninken and some ninken that have lost their shinobi and they are never the same again. The Inuzuka bond between ninken and shinobi is unlike anything else and losing _that_ bond is indescribable.

They reek of despair, and there’s no amount of time that will ever heal that gaping chasm in their hearts.

Kiba is only a Genin, and a useless one at that, but he thinks he’d rather die than lose Akamaru, and if Akamaru died, he’s sure he won’t be far behind him.

It’s a morbid thought, but it’s true, Kiba knows that for sure.

He was fully prepared to die during the Sasuke retrieval mission. Stabbed himself in the stomach repeatedly because that would mean Akamaru would live, that would mean his side of the mission was complete.

Kiba knows there’s some part of him that’s supposed to feel uncomfortable about how _easy_ that decision was to make. How it just made sense and how he wasn’t afraid.

But he feels nothing.

Tsume is still watching him and Kiba can’t work out how long it’s been since she last spoke, but judging from the look on her face – eyes a little wider than usual and crinkles forming on her forehead – Kiba’s left her in silence for too long.

Kurenai crouches down in front of him, careful to not obscure Kiba’s view of Akamaru and Hana.

Hana’s watching him as well, smiling reassuringly, but it falls flat and she can’t hide the worry written into the tense muscles of her shoulders. Still, Akamaru is _alive._

Kiba forces his gaze back to his mother and sensei and says, “he’s fine?”

Tsume snorts and tugs on his ear with far more caution than her gruff nature typically allows “He’s fine, pup. Worry about yourself a bit too.”

Kurenai’s smiling at him as well now, as though Kiba’s croaky words broke the seal of their worry.

Kiba blinks and find it’s harder to open them again. _Painkillers,_ a distant voice tells him but it’s too hard to focus on much beyond the people right in front of him and how hard it’s getting to keep his eyes open.

Kurenai hushes him and runs gentle fingers over his bare arms, her hands are just as calloused as the Inuzuka, rubbed raw and healed over stronger, something he’s very familiar with.

Akamaru is right there, living and breathing. Tsume is standing right next to him, her hand still running through his hair. Kurenai-sensei is there too.

Shino and Hinata are probably fine as well.

With these thoughts in mind, Kiba lets himself slip back into a dreamless sleep.

 

 

Shino’s leaning against the bed, head pillowed in his arms, glasses askew on his face and fast asleep. Hinata sits across from him on the other side of the bed, absently tracing patterns in Kiba’s arms.

Kiba attempts to blink away the lingering sleep in his eyes and tries to lift his arm to alert Hinata he’s awake. He can’t co-ordinate himself more than a twitch, and when he opens his mouth to talk the words get caught, and he coughs once, twice and then again and again until he can’t breathe and his eyes burn.

Shino violently jerks upright and Hinata flinches away from him just as Kiba is able to get his breathing under control and his stitches aren’t pulling against his skin, threatening to burst.

Hinata hesitates a moment, eyes wide and worried, staring at him with a sea of emotions running across her face, before she dives forward wrapping her arms around his neck, her nails digging into his shoulders.

It takes Kiba slightly too long to get enough coordination in his limbs to reciprocate, and another few seconds to blink past dulled-out pain.

He shoots a glance to the side and spots Akamaru. He watches until he sees that little chest rise and fall and he’s sure he’s _alive_ and that this isn’t all some sort of vivid hallucination that Kiba’s head has thought up in an attempt to pretend that everyone’s still okay.

He pulls his gaze away before it gets stuck there and lets Hinata rest against him.

There’s a long thirty seconds were no one moves, so Kiba peers over Hinata’s shoulder, blinking heavily. He almost inclines his head to ask the silent question if Shino’s okay, but decides against it. His head still aches distantly, dulled down by painkillers, but he’s not up to risking that nausea from before.

Instead, he reaches out his still slightly trembling hand and blearily realises that it’s covered in scratches and dirt lingers under his fingernails. Shino stares at his hand for a moment before he grabs it cautiously, not gripping too tight as though Kiba would break if he did.

None of them would do this normally, but Kiba still hurts and there are too many stitches in his stomach. Hinata still hasn’t let go and Shino’s grip on his hand is unusually gentle.

Kiba almost _died._

Hinata reaches back and tugs Shino forward by the scruff and he stumbles, barely stopping himself from face-planting Kiba’s stomach which would have surely ended in everyone crying.

Shino surrenders to Hinata’s gentle yet insistent tugging and rests his forehead on Kiba’s shoulder.

Normally they wouldn’t do this. But Kiba and Akamaru almost died for real this time. Their little team was close to getting ripped apart.

Normally Kiba would tease Hinata about how worried she is and Shino about him being so physically affectionate but Kiba doesn’t think he can bring himself to push them away right now.

Right now, he appreciates Hinata’s arms around him and Shino’s forehead pressed against him. Right now, they are all that matters.

 

 

“It’s fine. I’m fine” Kiba grits out, but Shino and Hinata hover around him, regardless.

“I don’t… I don’t think you are, Kiba,” Hinata whispers, wringing her hands together.

Shino frowns at him and Kiba’s blood boils. It’s more at himself than it is at Shino and Hinata for worrying, but it doesn’t change how light-headed he feels, nor does it change how everything hurts, and it doesn’t change that Akamaru’s injured and it doesn’t change that Kiba let it happen.

Kiba isn’t okay, but he needs to be okay.

“You’re not fine. You aren’t even sitting up by yourself,” Shino says and Kiba twists his head around too fast, and his vision swims for a moment before he’s able to make out the mass of bugs behind him, propping him up.

“Dammit,” Kiba hisses and squeezes his eyes shut.

Hinata slowly eases her hand into his, and it shouldn’t be comforting, not when his mind is scattered, and he lost as badly as he did, but it is, and Kiba hates himself a little more.

“You don’t need to be fine right now,” Shino says, as though he can feel exactly what Kiba is feeling.

Shino slowly pulls himself up onto the bed next to him, the bugs slowly lower Kiba back down to the mattress. Shino lays down next to him, stiff against Kiba’s side, but eventually he takes a careful breath and Kiba feels his muscles carefully unwind against him.

“Why? Because we’re a team, and you’re the one who is injured.” The bed is hardly big enough to fit two of them on there, but as much as Kiba claims to hate it, he really doesn’t want Shino to move.

“It’s – it’s fine, Kiba. We can handle it,” Hinata’s grip is suddenly a lot firmer, her fingers intertwined with his. Her eyes bore into his own with a determination that doesn’t match her quiet words.

Kiba sighs, and his stomach hurts just from that simple movement alone. He’s being stupid, taking his own frustration out on Shino and Hinata. He closes his burning eyes and lets himself relax against Shino’s presence.

“Sorry,” Kiba whispers.

Hinata squeezes his hand and Shino just shrugs. “You’ll feel better when you sleep more.”

Kiba really, really hopes he’s right.

 

 

Kiba hadn’t thought much of Gaara, other than he was someone to avoid, especially after Akamaru had reacted the way he did to his presence alone during the Chuunin Exam, and how effortlessly, how mindlessly he’d killed those other Genin.

Team 8 had killed people, but when Gaara did it, it felt so much more unnecessary. Their deaths felt wasted.

Team 8 had known that against Gaara, none of them would stand a chance and yet Naruto had _fought_ Gaara and stood more than just a _chance_ against him.

Naruto sits next him on a random park bench, still clad in all their black clothes from the Sandaime’s funeral. A part of Kiba doesn’t want to hear this. He doesn’t want to know how the hell Naruto fought Gaara and somehow didn’t die when Kiba couldn’t even go toe to toe against Sakon and Ukon.

Kiba’s far too exhausted to tell him to get lost, plus, now he thinks about it, Naruto seems particularly frazzled by the whole ordeal.

“He’s just like me,” Naruto says, and Kiba knows there is some deeper meaning behind Naruto’s words but Kiba is hurting, and bruised, and he _lost_ and he hasn’t got a single clue to what Naruto’s talking about.

Sakon and Ukon wouldn’t hold a candle against Gaara, and Kiba was almost completely at the twin’s mercy, so what does that make _him_? Useless.

He likes Naruto’s company. Likes his pranks and the weird way he laughs. But right now, Kiba is too tired to even pick up the scattered remains of what’s left of his dignity, let alone trying to help Naruto work through his own problems.

“Don’t think so. He’s crazy and I’m pretty sure you’re not, Naruto!” he can’t keep the bite from his tone, but Naruto doesn’t react.

“He has a monster inside of him too,” is all Naruto says, sounding distant. Kiba flops his head back against the bench and stares up at the sky.

Tsume had told Kiba what Naruto is, that there is a creature inside of him, that is why people are so cruel to him. Kiba had told her that that was stupid, and she’d chuckled in response and mumbled something about the Inuzuka. A jinchuuriki, is what people call Naruto.

So, Gaara is a Jinchuuriki too?

“Could have ended up like him y’know?” Naruto is looking at his bandaged hands. “But Iruka-sensei saved me I guess. Gaara had no one, and that’s how he turned out.”

Kiba clenches his jaw and closes his eyes, mulling over the information, his brain refusing to process the information faster than a snail's pace. Gaara is a Jinchuuriki, Naruto is a Jinchuuriki, and because of that, they have suffered.

Kiba swallows and the saliva sticks in his throat, refusing to go down and he wants to spit it out. He looks over at Naruto’s back, suddenly hyper aware how insignificant his own problems are.

“That’s out of your hands Naruto,” Kiba says and he’s about to say more but Naruto clenches his fists, and the sudden influx of anger Kiba smells takes him off guard.

“He’s been hurting this _whole time,_ ” he says. “Much, much more than I have. I hate it.”

Kiba looks down at Akamaru, who’s giving him a tired look from his curled up position on Kiba’s lap. Kiba can’t exactly find it in him to feel blind sympathy for Gaara after seeing Gaara kill as cruelly as he did during the Chuunin exams, but… Gaara ended up like that because of how people treated him.

He loses a little more respect for the Sand. He loses a little more respect for the Leaf. It’s a terrible thing to feel, but the Leaf made a mistake when it came to Naruto, and there’s no ignoring that. The idea of growing up with no family is such a bizarre concept to Kiba. He can’t imagine his life without it.

Family _is_ his life, whether by blood or bond. He’s always had someone who trusts him.

Kiba knows Naruto, has grown up with him, and Kiba can safely say that Naruto deserved exactly none of the treatment he’s received.

“He was… different by the time the fight was over. I actually want to see him again,” Naruto says wistfully.

Kiba slaps Naruto on the shoulder affectionately. “I think you’ll meet again.”

Naruto whips around to face him. He tries to frown, but his face is far too bandaged up and painful.

“I just have a feeling that’s all. Always trust an Inuzuka’s instincts, Naruto,” he says. He’s not sure if they will, but Kiba’s betting it’s what he needs to hear.

Naruto huffs and folds his arms across his chest. “I hope so,” he mumbles.

Kiba and Naruto’s friendship is an odd one built on Kiba’s intrigue of Naruto more than anything else, and maybe even now they’re not that close but Kiba finds that he hopes their friendship doesn’t dwindle.

He lets his head fall back against the bench and tries to swallow his pride at his own issues. Still, Kiba won’t be useless anymore. He won’t let Akamaru die.

 

 

While Ukon had been joined to Kiba’s body, while they had shared cells, there was a feeling – overwhelming and suffocating – and Kiba’s muscles had frozen at the force of it. Pounding through his head in a never-ending mantra.

There was an overwhelming need for _power._

It was only when Ukon had chuckled loudly and borderline something entirely non-human that Kiba realised the thoughts weren’t his.

They were Ukon’s.

Ukon had looked down at him, Kiba’s hand clenched so tightly in his grip he was starting to lose feeling in it. “You?” Ukon had said, yellowing teeth bared and grinning. “You want to be Hokage?” He had snorted and wrenched Kiba’s arm back harder.

“How embarrassing,” he said, his breath had stunk. “A fitting end to such cannon fodder.”

The next thing Kiba had done was stab himself in the stomach to ruin them both.

But Ukon’s words stuck.

He was right. The Sasuke retrieval mission and the Chuunin exams showed that simply enough. Kiba is weak. One of the weakest, probably.

He almost bet Naruto, but he won by _farting_ which was stupid and annoying but that’s what happened.

He’d be able to fight Sakura, and probably give Chouji a run for his money but the likes of Neji, Sasuke, Rock Lee, Shikamaru and the kids from the sand, Kiba doesn’t stand a chance.

Kiba sits beneath a tree, Akamaru in his lap, and _thinks._ Only he’s never been good at thinking.

He needs to get stronger if he wants to be Hokage. He needs to get a lot stronger. The brutally realistic part of Kiba’s brain knows he’ll never be the _strongest._ Not when there’s people like Neji Hyuuga and Rock Lee walking around.

But if he can prove himself somehow, then maybe he can make this work.

But then again, Kiba had been defeated during the sound-nin fight. And Ukon’s desperate need for power was something Kiba had never felt before. Ukon and Sakon were the little pawns of _Orochimaru._ Kankuro was able to beat them with relative ease.

Kiba had known, theoretically, that there were people out there that just wanted power and they wanted _all of it_ , but to see it in all its glory is an eye-opener.

Kiba had always thought of himself pretty good, able to handle himself at the very least and on his way to becoming a powerful shinobi. But that’s not true at all. Kiba’s on a one-way path to a dead end. He doesn’t have some all-powerful demon inside of him. he doesn’t have legendary teachers, and he doesn’t have that _drive_ that everyone else seems to have.

He’s not remarkable, talented, strong, or much of anything. That self-assured confidence that was so easy to find before the Chuunin exams quivers and falters.

Kiba is _nothing._

The crunch of footsteps jolts Kiba from his thoughts and he looks up, squinting into the setting sun.

Shikamaru approaches him, frowning and tired but determined. He sits himself down in front of Kiba and takes a deep breath.

“I’m sorry for giving you those orders,” he says, but he’s looking down at his lap and running his hand along the cast of his broken finger. “It was bad leadership, but I promise I’ll get better. I’m going to be working hard from here on out.” His voice is softer than Kiba’s heard it before. It seems he’s had a lot of time to think about it.

There're many things Kiba wants to say – it’s not your fault, I was the one who stabbed me, you did a better than any of us could – but as Kiba opens his mouth to reply he says, “I’ll get better too.”

Akamaru looks up at him through curiously amused eyes before he barks loudly and carefully moves to Shikamaru, his legs still healing, and licks his hand.

Shikamaru freezes, his whole body tenses and Kiba wanders what he expected instead.

“You did your best, didn’t you?” Kiba asks because it’s pretty obvious what Shikamaru feels bad about and if Kiba can help him feel a little less guilty, then he will.

Shikamaru hesitantly nods, keeping his gaze on Akamaru as he nuzzles against his hand. That always works to calm people down.

“Then it’s fine. Plus, I stabbed _myself._ I’ve gotta get stronger as well.” Kiba’s got to get more than stronger. First, he has to get decent. Then maybe he can start talking about getting stronger. But that’s not something he’s going to admit right now, and not in front of Shikamaru.

Shikamaru slowly looks up at him at that comment and Kiba wonders if that was the wrong thing to say. Just because Kiba was so unbothered about how close to death he had gotten, didn’t mean everyone else would feel the same. Maybe Shikamaru was one of them.

Shikamaru shakes himself, small tremors rippling through his body as he closes his eyes and runs his hand along Akamaru’s fur.

“We’ve got time I guess,” he says and Kiba nods along, grinning.

“We’ll just have to work really hard.” Kiba holds out his palm and Akamaru turns to him licking it.

Kiba has a lot of work to do, but he’s no closer to being Hokage than Naruto so he’s got time.

Not enough time, but time nonetheless.

 

 

Hana is giving him strange looks, and it’s painfully obvious that she sees straight through him. He needs to talk to his mother, but he’s been struggling to order his thoughts. He’s only been out of the hospital a few days and despite all this time to mull over his thoughts he’s still not sure where he wants to begin.

He needs to get stronger, that’s for certain if he even wants to make Chuunin, let along Hokage. He’s so, so far from where he needs to be it’s overwhelming. The chasm between where he is now and where he needs to be is vast.

Hana pats him on the head as she walks past and tugs on his hair lightly. Eiichi nudges him enough to make him stumble with his still shaky balance and barks at him when Hana catches him.

Hana frowns at Eiichi as he whines and rubs an apologetic paw over his ear in the canine equivalent of rubbing the back of one’s head.

Hana rights him and reaches down to flick Eiichi on the nose. “Kiba’s still healing, Eiichi you gotta be careful, you big oaf.”

Eiichi whines again and rubs his head apologetically against Kiba’s leg and he chuckles and lets Eiichi lick his palm in compensation.

Hana picks the last few items out of the washing machine and puts it in the basket. “Are you okay? You seem off.”

Kiba hums in indifference and considers telling her. He does feel off.

That easy and calm arrogance and confidence has dwindled and dwindled until Kiba feels hollow. He hates how his limbs feel so shaky, how he feels so unstable. One minute he’s fine and the next he wants to cry.

It’s too much to think about.

Kiba didn’t want to die, per se, but he needed to _win,_ and he was prepared to go to whatever methods to do it. But even that didn’t work.

Kiba hadn’t realised until now how much he isn’t prepared until now. How inadequate he is.

Ukon was right to call him useless, and he was right to call him unfit to be Hokage because the way he’s going that’s where he’ll stay.

“Overwhelmed a bit I guess,” he settles with. “There’s a lot I need to work on now.”

Hana watches him for a long moment, understanding more than what Kiba has blatantly said and shrugs.

“You’re Kiba,” she says. “You’ll figure something out. I’m always around if you need any help.”

She doesn’t push and Kiba finds himself incredibly grateful.

 

 

Tsume has always been a hard woman but Kiba loves every part of her. He knows she’ll tell him what he needs to hear so he pours out his heart to her. careful words be damned, he tells her _everything._

He tells her about his complete indifference to dying, his uselessness against the sound-nin, his ambition for Hokage and how much he wants it and how that once easy self-confidence is so hard to grasp.

Tsume doesn’t hug him, doesn’t tell him everything will be fine, that he did his best or that he’s perfect the way he is.

Instead, she looks at him – really _looks_ at him beyond the scope that he is her child, but as a fellow shinobi.

Tsume’s words hurt but they’re truthful.

“Every Hokage had to start somewhere, pup,” She smiles softly at him. “Make this your beginning.”

 

 

Kurenai makes sense to be the first person to go to. She trains them anyway and none of them passed the Chuunin exams.

Kiba’s got six months before the next one will be held, but after the fiasco with Orochimaru’s invasion everyone will be a lot more uptight.

Either way Kiba has six months to get up to the level of a Chuunin and prove that he is at the very least capable.

Kurenai is a genjutsu specialist, and while Kiba _knows_ about genjutsu, he’s useless at it overall.

It’s probably rude to ask Kurenai-sensei to give him extra lessons, but he can’t ignore genjutsu just because he’s bad at it.

It’s their day off, and Kiba’s been out of the hospital for a week. Kurenai has been giving him rehab exercises on top of the ones he’s already received from his physical therapy sessions to get the muscles he hurt in his stomach back up to scratch.

Kurenai-sensei probably won’t give him anything too strenuous, she’s been eyeing him cautiously the whole week making sure he doesn’t overdo it, but he needs to _start_ he needs to get better and he needs to get better fast.

Sitting around under the pretence of recovery makes him feel like he’s lying to himself.

He needs to become a Chuunin and the sooner he’s promoted the sooner he can start more difficult missions and get more experience.

Kurenai is leaning against the dango stand chatting with a shinobi with black spiky hair and sunglasses. He isn’t smiling but Kiba can’t smell any anger or other negative emotions coming from him. Must be his face.

Akamaru whines quietly from Kiba’s jacket and he runs his hand through his fur. It doesn’t look to be a particularly serious conversation despite the man’s stern face but Kiba finds himself extremely unwilling to interrupt them.

Interrupting conversations is something his mother has never tolerated, and that rule is so drilled into him he loiters a few shops away, rocking on the balls of his feet and eyeing the stores around him for temporary entertainment while he waits.

He trots over to a sushi stand and orders enough for both himself and Akamaru and sits at one of the tables, chewing slowly and watching the people passing by.

The sushi is refreshing, but it doesn’t ease the strange nervousness in his stomach. He’s not sure why he’s specifically nervous about this. It’s just his sensei. It’s no different from all the other times she’s trained him.

 _Except it is._ A voice tells him.

Before, Kiba hadn’t given much thought to training. It was just something he had to do to become a proper shinobi, but now he realises there’s far more to it than that.

If Kiba doesn’t want to be brushed off as a joke for the rest of his life, he needs to work. He needs to work _hard._

The Chuunin exams can be seen as a process for a person to become a Chuunin, but the more Kiba thinks about it, it’s more of a process of eliminating those who _aren’t_ suitable for those who aren’t suitable for the shinobi life.

The man in the glasses pulls away from Kurenai as Akamaru eats the last of his sushi and sends him a wave. Kiba waves back, Kurenai must have seen him and mentioned him to the shinobi.

The man wanders off and Kurenai turns to him, beckoning him over. Kiba jumps off the seat, tries to ignore the jolt of lingering pain in his stomach and wanders over.

“What’s up, Kiba?” she asks, tilting her head almost cat-like.

Kiba takes a deep breath. He hadn’t thought about what he was going to say because it’s only Kurenai-sensei and sometimes these things go better when he doesn’t put too much thought in, but now he’s not so sure. He’s already asking so much of her.

“I need your help with genjutsu,” he says and Kurenai lets out a small chuckle.

“That _is_ what I’m here for.” She smiles down at him and starts walking, beckoning him to follow with a tilt of her head. “I was talking to your mother the other day. I was wondering when you’d come and ask me.”

Kiba should have expected this. Jounin are the worst gossips. Akamaru barks and then sneezes, from Kiba’s jacket.

Something about Kurenai changes as she approaches the training ground. The easy smile disappears, and an almost unnoticeable frown graces her features.

“Genjutsu training,” she starts. She doesn’t look at him. Instead, she looks out at the field of training ground 2.

“You seem determined, but what _exactly_ do you want to achieve and why?” She keeps walking into the middle of the training ground and Kiba almost falters.

He’s always seen Kurenai as his sensei and forgotten that Kurenai has also had to work hard to get where she is.

Kurenai is a Jounin of Konoha. Dangerous. And it was stupid for him to forget that.

Kiba opens his mouth and slams it shut. He considers the question, glancing down at Akamaru.

“If it’s power that you want then your journey ends right here. You need a goal. A reason. If you want to be Hokage think about _why_ and then never let go of it. It’s your anchor, your _purpose.”_

He wants to say _Hokage,_ but he holds his tongue. Kurenai had just said it’s not enough and even his mother had said, _becoming Hokage isn’t an original dream. It’s not unique, it doesn’t make you special. If anything, it makes you look ignorant and stupid._

If Kiba wants to be Hokage, if he’s serious he needs to prove it to himself as well as everyone around him. And Kiba isn’t convinced.

 _Everyone’s heard that dream before,_ Tsume had said. _Don’t have Hokage as your goal, have the things you want to_ do _as Hokage as your goal._

He wants things to change. He wants people like Naruto to be respected. He can’t say what else he wants just yet, there’s still so much he doesn’t know, so much he’s ignorant to, but it’s a start.

It’s an ambitious thing that will take years and years. But he has a list now. And he has a list to complete.

“I want to help Konoha, and I want to keep the people in it safe,” he settles with, he doesn’t want to start throwing names and getting too specific just yet. Not until he gets some footing. “And to do that I need to get stronger. No one will listen to a useless Genin.”

He’s not wrong, he’s useless. He got beaten by Sakon and Ukon. He was practically defenceless and the look on Kurenai’s face confirms it.

It stings, the confirmation of Kiba’s weakness, but it’s the truth and he needs to accept that. Accept it and get better.

“I want to become proficient in genjutsu. I need to be able to cast them, sense them and break them.”

Kurenai doesn’t smile, but he can’t smell anger or disappointment.

“Ambitious,” is all she says.

She sits down on the grass and Kiba joins her.

“I don’t think you’ll ever be that great at genjutsu, but I do think you can become relatively proficient in it. Don’t let me down.”

Kiba grins, all teeth showing. Kurenai’s taking him seriously. She’s not just humouring him.

“Understood,” he says. This isn’t little Genin training anymore. This is much bigger.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm running dry on inspiration for this fic but I've written over 40k for it, so I'm not giving up. I thought I should post the first chapter to get me motivated once again!!
> 
> Yah anyway I would die for Kiba. Thank you for reading this so far!!!!
> 
> Just a reminder I have:  
> [A twitter for writing](https://twitter.com/echoswriting)  
> [A twitter for fandom stuff](https://twitter.com/tinyecho_)  
> [And a Pillowfort!](https://www.pillowfort.io/Echowrites)


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